Electro-mechanical properties of novel large strain PolyPower film and laminate components for DEAP actuator and sensor applications

A novel large strain PolyPower (R) compliant electrode has been manufactured and tested. The new electrode design is based on the anisotropic corrugated electrode principle with a corrugation profile designed to enable up to 100 percent linear strain of PolyPower compliant electrodes. Specifically, corrugations height-to-period ratio in the range of 1 allows stretching the thin metal electrode more than 80 percent without inducing any substantial damage to it. Based upon this new design, PolyPower films and laminates are large scale manufactured and used to fabricate PolyPower InLastor actuators and sensors capable of withstanding large strain conditions. The metal electrode is applied onto the corrugated surface of silicone elastomer film. Experimental measurements made with single-layer dielectric electro-active polymer (DEAP) PolyPower laminates are presented. Electrical and mechanical properties of the electrode are discussed. Stress and capacitance measurements as a function of strain and corrugations height-to-period ratio are used as a basis to analyze the properties of the laminates. It can be shown that the degree of anisotropy of compliant electrode affects the stress and capacitance dependence as a function of axial strain in the compliance direction. The degree of anisotropy of the electrode depends very much on the thickness of the coatings applied to the corrugated surface of elastomer film. This degree determines the conversion ratio of Maxwell pressure into actuation pressure in the direction of compliance. The effects of electrode thickness on the stress and strain relaxation properties of the DEAP laminate are also presented.